International IDEA’s Permanent Observer office to the United Nations (UN) will launch today the English version of The Quality of Democracies in Latin America. Lead writer Leonardo Morlino and contributor Juan Rial will be on hand to present the findings of the book and answer participants’ questions in an interactive panel entitled “Democracy in Latin America: Trends and Outlooks”. The discussion will be moderated by Massimo Tommasoli, IDEA’s Permanent Observer to the UN.

The report seeks to provide an innovative answer as to how a democracy can be empirically assessed. It first proposes an original theoretical framework and then applies it to the many dimensions, sub-dimensions and specific guiding empirical queries of the Latin America context.

The findings of the report will be discussed with regard to the current economic and political landscape in Latin America. Highlighting diverse national circumstances, the analysis is relevant to the challenges faced within the region, stemming from the combination of economic slowdown, adjustment programmes, and stagnation in poverty reduction as well as rising allegations of corruption.

The UN’s 2030 Agenda has seen the inclusion of accountability and responsiveness within its sustainable development framework. The implementation of the Global Goals will depend on countries’ capacity to respond to citizens’ needs via accountable institutions and effective public service delivery. This report can be used as a tool to better hone the reliability and relevance of assessing such democratic institutions.

The event will take place in Conference Room 8 in the GA Building of UN HQ and will last from 13:15 to 14:30 EST.

Contact Stephen Graf for more information, and follow the event’s live-tweets@GrafStephen.

Press Contact

Raul Cordenillo’s work focuses on enhancing International IDEA's profile as the primary actor for effective and sustainable democracy building by maximising the potential of its knowledge resources, policy initiatives and reform assistance programmes. He represents the voice of International IDEA in local and international media and other communication networks and oversees the work of the communications team (communications, publications and the library).